Cliffs Notes on St. Thomas Aquinas opponent John Curtis Christian

FORT LAUDERDALE – It’s rare that St. Thomas Aquinas’ football team can be considered an underdog in a game.

While the Raiders are ranked higher than this week’s opponent, John Curtis Christian (La.), a case could me made for John Curtis being the favorite since the Patriots are the defending national champs, are ranked higher in one poll (No. 4 in USA Today) and have won 29 consecutive games.

Plus, the Patriots will be playing Friday night’s game at the Mercedez-Benz Superdome in New Orleans less than a 20-minute drive from their school, on a field they played twice last season.

“It gives us more motivation to work hard and stay focused,” St. Thomas cornerback Al Harris said.

Here are some interesting tidbits about John Curtis:

--- The Patriots have won 25 state championships in 44 years under Coach J.T. Curtis Jr., whose father, the late-J.T. Curtis Sr. founded the private school in 1962. The Patriots are 25-7 in title games.

--- Curtis, who has a 521-54-6 record, became the second football coach – high school, college or pro – to win 500 career games during the 2011 season.

--- John Curtis Christian’s former players include former USC and New York Jets running back Joe McKnight, who scored 22 TDs and averaged 18 yards a play in leading the Patriots to the state championship in 2005, a season shortened due to Hurricane Katrina, which caused extensive damage to the school.

--- The Patriots have won at least 10 games each of the past 38 years and reached the state championship game 17 consecutive years.

--- Since 1975, every player that started school at Curtis as a freshman and spent all four years there has won at least one state championship.

--- Wide receiver Malachi Dupre is rated the nation’s 15th best prospect in the Rivals Top 250. The 6-foot-4, 192-pound Dupre, who’s also a basketball standout, has a 40-inch vertical, and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.55 seconds, is one of several players coveted by major colleges.